BBC - Desperate Romantics website - zoomable paintings - Read the Case Study

The broadcast drama
Desperate Romantics is a six part BBC period drama focussing on an influential art movement called the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. With a glossy look, and young vibrant cast, Desperate Romantics is a character-driven romp through the alleyways, studios, brothels and chop-houses of 19th century London.

The concept for an on-line experience
In addition to the conventional broadcast the BBC wanted to develop an innovative and distinctive way to present its online content around the drama in line with its mission for Future Media and Technology. They wanted to create a way to allow the user to interact with high resolution zoomable images of the paintings featured in the drama through a web browser.

Bringing it to reality
Cogent Design was commissioned to bring this concept to reality both technically and in line with the Desperate Romantics branding and look and feel . The brief was to provide a rich user experience incorporating video clips and expert commentary sound tracks but also to ensure ease of use for a wide audience.

Related information: Zoomorama, Flash programming, zoom paintings